The present invention relates to paper making processes and more particularly relates to controlling lipophilic extractives present in Acacia fibers used to make paper or fiber containing products (e.g., tissue).
Lipophilic material, including waxes, on machine surfaces, fabrics, wires, felts, and rolls can lead to problems, such as wet end breaks, pressroom breaks, dryer section breaks, holes, sheet defects, and high dirt counts. These deposits and associated problems can lead to a significant amount of downtime yearly.
Various sources of wood are used for pulp in order to make paper and other wood-based products. As sources for pulp begin to dwindle, alternative wood sources are being considered. However, when alternative wood sources are considered and/or used, the pulp may be less desirable from these alternative wood sources due to components that are present with the wood pulp, such as wax, pitch, and the like. For instance, mixed hardwood, Eucalyptus, Aspen, Birch, and other similar pulp fibers are used to make different grades of paper. However, the availability of pulp fibers from the Eucalyptus wood have recently been affected by restrictions with respect to harvesting and the like. More particularly, some Eucalyptus wood is recovered from plantations, and there is great concern on the over-harvesting of Eucalyptus from these plantations. In addition, recently, the use of MTHW (mixed tropical hardwood) pulp has essentially been eliminated in some locations around the world. However, one of the alternatives to these wood pulps is Acacia wood, but due to lipophilic components, including waxy components, being present in the wood fiber/pulp, the use of Acacia wood pulp for papermaking products has been undesirable. When the pulp and fiber being used to make paper or tissue products contains large amounts of Acacia wood pulp, such as greater than 30% by weight, the lipophilic components can greatly affect machine runability. Some evidence shows that machine runability is lowered with the addition of Acacia wood pulp in the stock and, amounts greater than 35% by weight with respect to the pulp components present, are considered difficult, if not impossible, due to the effects of the lipophilic components on the papermaking components of the papermaking mill. Thus, there is a need to provide a way to use Acacia wood pulp and fiber and avoid the disadvantages of working with this wood pulp and fiber, including the detrimental effects of the lipophilic components.
The presence of these lipophilic components can lead to many problems in papermaking. For instance, the lipophilic components, when present, make the pulp fiber difficult to stick to a Yankee dryer for creeping purposes. Also, the presence of these components can cause problems in finishing and converting. Further, as mentioned above, the presence of these components can affect all aspects of the papermaking process by affecting the machine surfaces, fabrics, wires, felts, rolls, and the like.
Accordingly, there is a desire to develop processes which will enable one to use Acacia wood pulp and fiber in papermaking.